explained, and reminded us that our seven
day tourist visas required us to spend the
first and last day of each visit in Rangoon.
For legitimate tourists Burma was a bar
gain, costing little more than $50 a day
for transportation, hotels, and food. For
would-be journalists the tourist trail didn't
look encouraging.
But gradually we found ourselves caught
up in a conspiracy of hospitality. I met schol
ars who talked proudly of Burma's wonders,
and elder statesmen who candidly discussed
its woes. Drivers appeared who knew how
to find black-market gasoline. We even
found energetic young officials who gave us
introductions to their counterparts in other
villages and towns.
Thus encouraged, we were ready to begin
our marathon commute.
N MY FIRST TRIP I found that the
road to Mandalay was an asphalt
thread through a tapestry of tradi
tional village life. At Pegu I visited a
to Burma's major transportationroute, the IrrawaddyRiver, which drains
65 percentof the country and remains navigable to shippingfor 930 miles.
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